Roast rack



ROAST RACK April 11, 1950 Filed Dem 1, 1948 INVENTOR John Clark Brown ATTORNEY J. C. BROWN ROAST RACK April 11, 1950 Filed Dec. 1.; 19481 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ill ILFIIII INVENTOR John Clark Brown ATTORNEY I A ril 11', 1950 J. c. BROWN 2,503,795 ROAST flex F1195 Dec. 1, 1948 s Sheets-Sheet s ATTO RNEY Patented Apr. 11, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROAST RACK John Clark Brown, Upper Montclair, N. J.

Application December 1, 1948, Serial No. 62,797

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in roasting racks whereby a roast or the like can be supported upon and in spaced relationship to a pan in an oven whereby it can be conveniently handled inasmuch as such devices are usually in the general shape of a cradle in which the roast is confined between swingable side members attached to a base member.

More specifically a cradle-shaped roast rack of the kind herein contemplated comprises as main members:

A base member having leg or spacing portions whereby it is spaced from a supporting plane, and a pair of side members attached to the base member in such a manner that they can be bodily adjusted towards and away from each other and positioned in an outwardly inclined roastreceiving position to suit the size of the roast. The side members are foldable or collapsible flat upon the base member from their roast-supporting position so that the device may be compactly stored when not in use.

The improvements of this invention apply to a roasting rack of the kind that may herein be termed an all-wire construction, that is a wire construction which offers suflicient support for the roast but yet due to the wire construction has at most only line contacts with the roast and therefore maintains the roast substantially entirely exposed although sufliciently supported.

The aforementioned main members of such a roasting rack, and especially the base member which supports the roast at the bottom, have been known to be of a grid-like wire construction composed of individual lengths of wire or rods joined together at points of intersection as by welding, brazing or the like, to constitute gridlike structures in which straight lengths of wire appear to be thus connected or joined at right angles to a marginal or frame wire. In other words, such a known construction represents a grid pattern of substantially straight rods or wires intersecting at right angles and having their intersecting points secured as above stated.

It is among the objects of this invention in such all-wire roasting racks to avoid all welding or brazing connections; to provide an all-wire construction that difiers from the conventional grid pattern and presents a pleasing pattern of simple lines or curves capable of supporting the roast cradle-like effectively yet by a minimum of contact points or lines; and to provide an all-wire roasting rack construction that is simple and inexpensive to produce and can be constructed from a minimum length of wire material.

These objects are attained by providing special preformed wire shapes or component shapes of the rack construction, which shapes in themselves are integrated, consisting of a continuous length of wire, and by swedge-connecting such component wire shapes with one another in a certain manner.

More specifically these objects are attained by providing a base member comprising a pair of identical specially shaped wire loop portions symmetrically disposed with respect to each other with the outer ends of the loop portions being bent downwardly to represent wide leg portions at the open ends of the roasting rack.

According to another aspect of this invention the base member is shaped from wire material so as to give the overall appearance of an I-shape, that is a shape having a constricted longitudinal body portion and transversely extending end portions, the intermediate or body portion extending in a horizontal plane while the end portions extend in vertical planes parallel to each other.

Features lie in the specific wire-shaping or configuration of the base member.

A specific feature lies in the configuration of a wire loop member as an article of manufacture two of which combined in symmetrical fashion constitute the base member.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an end view of the roasting rack with the side members indicated in various adjusted positions, and showing the corner portions of the'base member swedge-pinched to provide outer end stops for the extreme outer positions of the side members.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the roasting rack taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a roasting rack taken on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 3a is a transverse section on line 3a--3a in Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the swedge-pinched corner portions of the base member.

Fig. 5 is a top view of the base member of the roasting rack showing the component portions thereof drawn apart.

Fig. 6 is an end view of the roasting rack in folded condition.

Fig. 7 is a top view of the folded roasting rack taken on line 1--1 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is an overall perspective view of the roasting rack in unfolded or operating condition.

The roasting rack comprises three main members each of which is in the nature of a wire frame or shaped wire structure, to wit: a base member ID, and a pair of side members I! and i2 hinged to the sides of the base member. The base member Iii has an overall length L and an overall width W and in plan view it has the overall appearance of an I-shape presenting a longitudinally and medially extending constricted body portion B and transverse or wide end portions E1 and E2.

In this embodiment the base member H3 is composed of'apair of identical loop members l3 and I4 interconnected by means of a medially disposed and longitudinally extending sleeve member l5 swedge-connected to the loop members l3 and i l. The loop member l3 comprises an outer or wide head portion is (see-Figs. 5 and- 8) which is represented by av shaped wire portionv extending in a vertical plane and in fact consti tuting the end portion E1 of the base member [6, and further comprises an inner or narrower legportion i'l. extending ina horizontal plane and. consisting of a pair oflegs ill and 59, each leghaving. an intermediate oitset it and it respectively so as to form outer leg portions it" and IQ respectively. which are horizontally spaced from each other a distance di and to form inner or terminal leg portions H39. and lil adjoining or contiguous to each other.

The. head, portion it of the loop member !3 extendsin its vertical plane downwardly from the horizontal. plane of the legportion i7 and thereby. places. the'leg portion I? a distance d2 from .a.,supporting plane. or supporting pan indicated at P. The head portion l t of loop member l3 comprisessa horizontal portion at the bottom.which merges. at each end through bends 2| and 22with vertical portions 23 and 24 respectively which vertical portions in turn merge with bends. 25 and 26 respectively which bends are of inverted U-shape extending upwardly as well as inwardly and towards each other in the vertical plane- The width ofbend 25 is designated as ur and its height as hr. The width of bend 2B is designated as 11 2 and its heightas hz. These U- shapedbends 25 and 26 in turn merge through bjends v2l' and 23 respectively with horizontal portionslll andfill respectively which further extend towards each othenall in the. vertical plane. However, at their inner ends the horizontal portions 29 and 3% merge. through horizontal bends 3| and Sirespectively with the aforementioned legs l8. and. i9 respectively. which legs extend in thehorizontal. plane. The loop member It is identical tothe loop member 53 just described and is disposed in symmetry therewith so that both loop members Hand 14 together with the sleeve member I 5 interconnecting them may constitute the base member ill. The connection between the sleeve member l5 and twopairs of terminal leg portions of the two loop members l3 and I4 is further secured by spot-swedging, that is-by a pair of swedged-in depressions or'transverse notches 33 and 34.

Consequently the loop member it comprises a head portion 35 (see Figs. 5 and 8) extending infa vertical plane and a leg portion 36 extending in a horizontal plane. The head portion 35 comprises a horizontal wire portion 3? at the bottom, and a pair of vertical portions 38 and'39- at the ends of thehorizontal portion 37 and merging therewith through bends 4t! and 4|. The vertical portions 38 andtQ merge with bends 42 and 43 respectively of inverted U-shape extending upwardly as well as inwardly, that is towards each other to merge withhorizontal portions 44 and 45 respectively which in turn extend further inwardly and towards each other. The horizontal portions 44 and d5, however, merge through horizontal bends 46 and 41 with horizontally extending legs 48 and ii) respectively which in turn have inward offsets 43 and 49 respectively dividing the legs into outer leg portions 48* and 49 spaced a distance (is from each other and inner leg portions 43 and 4 adjoining one another and surrounded byand secured to theisleeve member [5.

Looking at the base member ill as a whole there are thus provided the inverted U-shaped bends 25 and 26, 42 and 43, one such bend being disposed at each corner of the base member to provide points of hinge attachment for the side members H and 12. That is to say a pair of such bends 25 and,42 serves for the attachment of the side member H while the pair 26 and 43 of these bends serves for the attachment of the side member i2. In this way the side members are swingable about a pairof horizontal longitudinal axes which are parallel to each other as well as parallel to the medial or longitudinal body portion B of the base member.

In order to determine the extreme outwardly inclined position of the sidemembers H and. [2 the bends 25 and 28, 42 and 43 arev swedgepinched to provide inwardly extending deformations 25 26 43 respectively.(asexemplified in the detail perspective Fig. 4) in order to thereby provide stops for the side members II and [2.

The one-side member, H comprises an intermediateor body portion-50 having a U-shaped bend or middle portion 56 v theextent or depth of which is designated as D1 and the. width of which is designated as. T1, and further having a pair of shanks or, end. portions 5! and 52 extending at right angles from the body portion 50 and merging therewith as through bends 53 and 54 respectively. The shanks 5i and 52 terminate in eyes 55 and 55 respectively formed by the wire being looped or bent around the corner wire portions of the base member which corner portions have been identified as the inverted U- shaped bends 25 and t2.

Similarly, the other side memberlz comprises an intermediate or body portion 5! having a U- shaped middle portion or bend 53' the. extent or depth of which bend is designated as D2 and the width as T2, and further having apair of shanks or end portions 58 and 59 extending at right angles from the body portion and merging therewith as through bends 60 and 6| respectively. The shanks 58 and.59 terminate in eyes 62 and 53 respectively formed by the wire of the shanksv being looped aroundthe respective corner portions of the base member which corner portionshave been identified as the inverted u-shaped bends 26 and 43.

Referringto Fig. 1 it will be seen that the side members H and I2 are bodily and slidably adjustable upon the base, member I0 and relative to each other. That is, the side members are adjustable towards and away from each other by being slidable to the extent of the length of the horizontal portions 29, 3t, 44, and 45 of the base member, that is inwardly to stopping points defined by the horizontal bends as, a2, 46, 41 of thebase member. In this way the distance be.- tween the side members can be adjusted to. the size of the roast that is to be placed between them.

I claim:

1. A roast rack having a wire frame base memher and a pair of wire frame side members each of" substantially parallel to each other and parallel to the longitudinal median line of the base member characterized by the fact that the base member comprises a pair of symmetrically disposed wire loop portions each of which in turn comprises a wide head portion extending transversely of said longitudinal median line of the base member and in a substantially vertical plane, and a narrow leg portion extending in a substantially horizontal plane from said vertical plane whereby the leg portions of the loops constitute a relatively narrow longitudinally and medially extending body portion of the base member, and said head portions constitute relatively wide transversely extending end portions of the base member extending downwardly from said body portion.

2. A roasting rack according to claim 1, in which each corner portion of the base member comprises an inverted U-shape bend each merging with a horizontal wire portion which horizontal wire portions extend toward each other in the vertical plane of the respective head portion.

3. A roasting rack according to claim 1, in which each corner portion of the base member comprises an inverted U-shape bend each merging with a horizontal wire portion which horizontal wire portions extend towards each other in the vertical plane of the respective head portion, with the addition that each of the inverted U-shape bends has an inward protrusion formed by a swedge-pinched deformation serving as a stop for the respective side members so as to determine the extreme outwardly swung positions thereof.

4. A roasting rack according to claim 1, in which said loop portions of the base member are in the form of individual although identical wire loop members, with the addition of a, longitudinally and medially extending sleeve member surrounding and swedge-connected to the terminal portions of said loop members for interconnecting said loop members.

JOHN CLARK BROWN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 

